Community planning with First Nations

A plan the community owns, and keeps using.

TalPlay works alongside First Nations on community and economic planning. The work is built on relationships, respects the Nation's authority over its own future, and moves on the community's timeline.

Start a conversation The system in development
Current engagement

Halfway River First Nation.

A five year plan for a Treaty 8 Nation in northern British Columbia.

01
Indigenous community development

Comprehensive Community Development Plan

Halfway River First Nation's 2027 to 2031 Community Comprehensive Development Plan: the roadmap that will guide the Nation in developing and implementing projects across infrastructure, land and resource development, health services, family support and social development, housing, education, and youth.

Engagement
  • Client: Halfway River First Nation
  • Region: Northern British Columbia
  • Plan period: 2027 to 2031
How the work is done

The whole plan, not only the economy.

Economic development lasts when it sits inside the things a community cares about most.

01

Listen
first

The plan starts from what members, youth, Elders, staff and leadership say, gathered in sessions designed with the community.

02

Plan by
department

Priorities are worked through with each department, so the people who will carry the plan have shaped it.

03

Build for
after

The plan is written to be used by Council and staff in the years after it is approved, not filed once it is presented.

What TalPlay can do with a Nation

Planning work.

  • Comprehensive Community Plans
  • Economic strategy led by the community
  • Youth and education program design
  • Keeping culture and heritage in the plan
  • Governance and how departments work together
  • Finding funding and partners
In development

Community plan to action.

Many community plans are finished and then left on a shelf. This system is meant to keep a plan in use: each priority is tied to the department responsible, the actions agreed, a way to tell whether it is working, and regular reporting back to leadership and community.

Priorities
Each priority in the plan has an owner.

The department responsible, the actions agreed and the dates are in one place, in the community's own words.

Progress
A simple way to tell whether it is working.

A small number of measures for each priority, chosen with the people who do the work, in place of a long list nobody reads.

Reporting
Regular reporting back to leadership and community.

The plan is looked at again on a set rhythm, so it changes as the community's situation changes.

Where it stands
Being designed now, shown with a made up example.

It holds no Nation's information. A Nation's own plan would go into it only with that Nation's decision.